Five things about Los Altos' developer

• Los Altos was a housing subdivision developed by Lloyd S. Whaley, back in the late 1940s and 1950s.

• Whaley Park is named after real estate developer Whaley.

• Whaley died in 1973 at the age of 67.

• Whaley, who was from Nebraska, invited Miss Nebraska to break ground in the early 1950s on the Los Altos Center, which was the predecessor mall to today's Los Altos Market Center.

• Whaley fought off an attempt by some to rename Los Altos as University Village to reflect the emergence of the local City College and Cal State Long Beach.

Eighty-six-year-old Jimmie Harrison doesn’t have to be told what a great neighborhood Los Altos is. He used to ride up and down Bellflower Boulevard when it was a two-lane highway, and bean fields lined the area as far as the eyes could see, on each side of the thoroughfare.

He and his wife, Jeane Sandy Harrison, bought their house at 2132 Raznor Ave. on March 15, 1950, when Los Altos home construction was still going on. He had a job that paid $50 a week at a termite company, and wasn’t sure he could pay the $8,150 asking price for the two-bedroom, one-bathroom home. The Realtor wanted a $25 down payment, and Harrison nearly walked away. Instead, he took out a 30-year loan, paid $53 a month, and raised four kids in the house.

“My mother-in-law thought we were crazy, moving to the country,” said Harrison of the barren fields around the subdivision. His wife, who has since passed away, thought the old Bendix washer and dryer that came with the house were wonderful – until they broke down not long after the move-in.

“This has been a really good neighborhood. The schools are very good,” said Harrison, whose summer highlight was a block party a few weeks ago. “We had a six-piece band, and kids played. I’ve seen people come and go, but most have stayed. I’m not going anywhere,” he said.

There are few complaints in Los Altos – but there are some. Parking seems to be the major beef.

The southern portion of Los Altos, adjacent to Cal State Long Beach, has seen its fair share of students park cars on their streets.

“A lot of people work there, but time to time, parking has to be addressed,” said Long Beach City Councilman Patrick O’Donnell, who has worked with residents to get permit parking for the area. There are restricted hours that outsiders can’t park along Atherton Street and some roads to the north of the main street. “I feel for the students because the permits are so expensive,” said O’Donnell of the on-campus permits to park in the area.

Lloyd Whaley comes to town

Los Altos is a neighborhood because real estate developer Lloyd Whaley put it on the map, according to a historical film about the area. It nearly became known as University Village, but the Los Altos name – which means “the heights” in Spanish – won out due to marketing by Whaley, the developer who built thousands of homes in Los Altos back in the late 1940s and early 1950s, the film says.

The community’s public library on Britton Avenue has film clips of the Los Altos development that Joe Sopo, a local realtor with Keller Williams Realty and head of the Los Altos Neighborhood Association, condensed into a 30-minute CD. On the CD, original homeowners are interviewed, bulldozers and contractors are shown building homes, and photos from the early 1950s show Miss Nebraska breaking ground on the Los Altos Center, which was the predecessor mall to Los Altos Market Center. Bean fields and dirt curbs of Bellflower, the main thoroughfare, are also visible on the film.

Whaley was born in Lexington, Neb., in 1906 – thus the Miss Nebraska connection -- and died at age 67 in 1973.

“His permanent impact on Long Beach may never be equaled again,” said John Cleveland, a cousin of Whaley and narrator of the film. The subdivision was clearly the result of a building boom driven by military veterans returning home from World War II, looking for a home to raise a family.

From 1946 to 1949, Cleveland said Lloyd had completed 880 homes from Bellflower to Clark, and Atherton to Stearns. Mt. Baldy, a 10,064-foot mountain in the San Gabriel Mountains, is visible in the distance in the film - no haze.

A plane passes overhead an LA Fitness in the Los Altos Market Center in Los Altos in Long Beach, CA on Monday September 20, 2013. CHRISTIAN RANDOLPH, LONG BEACH REGISTER,
Alessandra Harmon plays on the swings at Los Altos Park in Long Beach, Calif., on September 11, 2013. JEFF GRITCHEN, LONG BEACH REGISTER
Employees fill a stream of orders during a lunch rush at Deli News Pizza in Los Altos in Long Beach, CA on Thursday September 20, 2013. CHRISTIAN RANDOLPH, LONG BEACH REGISTER,
Larry Harmon leaves Los Altos Park with his children, Alessandra Harmon and Nicholas Harmon on September 11, 2013, in Long Beach, Calif. JEFF GRITCHEN, LONG BEACH REGISTER
A long line of customers wait to place their orders during lunch at Deli News Pizza in Los Altos in Long Beach, CA on Thursday September 20, 2013. CHRISTIAN RANDOLPH, LONG BEACH REGISTER,
Tim Rice, left, and Garrison Ralston enjoy plates of lasangna for lunch at Deli News Pizza in Los Altos in Long Beach, CA on Thursday September 20, 2013. CHRISTIAN RANDOLPH, LONG BEACH REGISTER,
The first home to sell above $900,000 since April 25th, 2006 at 5288 E. Daggett St. in Los Altos in Long Beach, CA on Friday September 20, 2013. CHRISTIAN RANDOLPH, LONG BEACH REGISTER,
Jimmie Harrison, 86, stands in front of the home that he purchsed in 1950 for $8150 in Los Altos in Long Beach, CA on Friday September 20, 2013. CHRISTIAN RANDOLPH, LONG BEACH REGISTER,

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